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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  August 1, 2013 2:00pm-4:01pm PDT

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gone. but those mistakes are now in her review mirror and her mig might -- network will ten. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we begin with the court hearing the whole country will be talking about. you have to see what happened today when the kidnapper, the rapist, the murderer, ariel castro, was sentenced to life in prison. he pleaded guilty to more than 900 charges for abducting three cleveland girls and holding them
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as sex slaves for more than a decade. martin savidge is in cleveland. what an awful day. tell our viewers, martin, what happened. >> it was an if you awful day and of course it was a huge day, very emotional. i grew up in this town and knew a lot of the law enforcement in this courtroom. i knew a lot of the attorneys, but they were all overshadowed by one small victim who faced down her kidnapper. inside the courtroom where ariel castro was sentenced, it was the words of one victim and those who spoke for the others that will be remembered. michelle knight is the only person to testify in person, bringing proceedings to a halt. >> you took 11 years of my life away and i have got it back. i spent 11 years in hell.
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now your hell is just beginning. >> reporter: small in stature, her strength seemed to fill the entire courtroom. knight says her fellow captive, gina de jesus was her teammate, the only good to come from any horror. >> i cried every night. isms so alone. i worried about what would happen to me and the other girls every day. >> reporter: speaking on behalf of gina de jesus was her cousin, sylvia colon. >> today we will close this chapter of our lives. >> colon also spoke to the castro family saying it is ariel they blame. >> to the castro family, we are saddened you are burden with this horror and will forever be
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connected to these atrocities. please know we do not hold you accountable. >> reporter: amanda berry's sister fought back tears, describing the suffering castro brought to her family for years. s could -- castro himself was given an opportunity to speak. >> i'm not a monster. i'm sick. my sexual problems is so bad on my mind. i'm impulsive. >> reporter: and at one jaw dropping point, he said life in his prison home was actually a family. >> i just hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me. because we had a lot of harmony
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going on in that home. >> and as castro was led away, michelle walked out of the courtroom finally free to start the rest of her life. >> and the number to keep in mind beyond the sentence that castro got, life plus 1,000 years, is another staggering number, 13,226, the number of days that those three women were held going back to the first girl that was taken, michelle knight. wolf? >> she was really amazing, that michelle knight and this courage, the strength of her statement. the other two, amanda berry and gina de jesus, they do not want to appear. did they offer an explanation? >> no, the attorney said that simply at this time in their life they weren't ready. they felt this was the best way to go forward and quite frankly, michelle, especially in the words of the judge, he said that
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she appeared to be the true heroine in all of this, overseeing the welfare of the other two girls. >> we have a lot more to show you from today's hearing and a lot to talk about. joining us in "the situation room," our legal analyst, jeffrey toobin and the prosecutor danny sal valos. jeff, if you get life in prison without the possibility of parole, what's is the point of adding another thousand years? >> it's really just symbolic, wolf. this is a life sentence. i think the prosecutors were worried about public criticism for not seeking the death penalty so they wanted to make as abundantly clear as they could that ariel castro will never get out of prison and this is how they did it. >> i'm not a lawyer but it
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suggests to me if you get life in prison without parole, there could be a loophole, that's why they add the thousand years. you don't have toer worry about that? >> no. in this state you don't. va it varies by state. >> i can't tell you how many people e-mailed me or tweeted me and said if you believe in capitol hill, this guy deserved it. why didn't the prosecutor go for the death center. >> well, i can't speak to that. i can say when it comes to life plus a thousand years, another reason we have less to worry about is that this was a plea agreement. when you enter a plea, your avenues of appeal are very limited, which is why the number of years here is largely symbolic. had this gone to trial and a
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verdict, there may be more avenues of appeal. why the government chose not to ask for the death penalty, one of the compelling reasons may have been cost. whatever symbimiymbolic nature, opinion about the death penalty that, could be one reason. and do you want to put these victims through more than they've already been through? >> that's a fair point. >> gail, what makes somebody become a monster like this aial castro become a monster in. >> i think it's the psychopathy. what causes somebody? we think that it's a combination probably of biology. there do seem to be brain differences in people who are really socio paths.
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but also early life experience does affect that as well. that can also accentuate the likelihood of repeating that behavior. he description was not remor remorsef remorseful, nonempathic at all, it was all a beautiful family, et cetera. >> yeah, i like what the judge mike emrusso said. he said maybe he had some problems as a kidor a. >> he just became this monster. everybody stand by. we have a lot more to discuss. we're also going to hear more from the heart wrenching statement the former captain, michelle nig
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at ariel castro's sentencing today, we got our first real look inside what was a truly house of horrors. an fbi agent showed photos of the living conditions castro's victims had to live in formore than a decade. what knew details did we learn? >> reporter: we learned a will the today, wolf.
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we learned about the deplorable conditions these women dealt with. we learned about the great lengths that ariel castro went to to keep these women hidden and to lead his secret life. some of the first pictures we saw today showed amanda berry's room that she shared her little girl that she had with ariels could tro. it was shocking toity z this room. we see child's art books conditions in the rpd that amanda and her daughter lived in. we learned that the only ventilation they had was at the bottom of the door, that there was no door knob so they couldn't escape and harr yell castro set up an aberm in case they tried to escape. and then you see the die cot of
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where gina and mi we had heard all along, wolf, that amanda was treated a little bit better than the other two and that michelle knight took the brunt of of their abuse. in their room we saw the rusty chains, 99 feet along according to the investigator today. we learned there was just a cutout in the ceiling to give them a little bit of ventilation. we also saw the pictures of t s this -- we were able to see for ourselves, add color to the picture we've been trying to understand. we learned the disturbing details of this case. an investigator prevented the gun that aial cass toe he used them to feel cole eefr them and
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power less and in twor. they had those words pulled out from that fot. we really learned a lot today, wolf, not only about the horrific conditions these women had to endure but also just the amount of energy that ariel castro expended trying to keep these women hidden inside his home for a decade. >> when you see those chains that he had, those long chains that he locked up these women and it's just heart breaking to imagine what was going on. pamela brown, we'll be back later. pam will be with us. let get more now on how castro's victims endured year after year of these kind of conditions. let's bring in psychiatrist dr. gail salts. at pun pictures, what harm didedoes this crazy guy thinks
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he's talking about. >> i don't know whether he really believes what he saysing or whether he wants too convince everyone that he's really not the monster. this is no one's definition of pharmacy, when you exert a control over this long period of time, time,in okay -- and they come to feel not totally hateful so there isn't a constant fear or constant let me go going on. and whether that convinced him because he wants to believe so that they were willing to stay, as it were, you know, only he knows. >> in that rambling sort of 15-minute defense he presented
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before the court today, at one point he said he never tortured these women. he said he never hurt these women. he insisted the sex was, in his words, consensual. is this guy delusional? >> you know, delusional or i hate to use this word as a psychiatrist because it's not a clinical word per se but really quite evil. he wants the world to remember him in the grandiose way that he wants to remember himself. it's incredible grandiosity. i think he doesn't want them to believe these women and it's sort of in a way could you see it's kind of continued abuse. the sorries really were not sorry at all. he said very negative thing about his victim and it's really a continued pattern of being emotionally abusive. so i would say,you know, it's really quite evil and monstrous behavior. >> he was so evil when he even
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brought up this notion in front of the court and the whole world saving these women, they wanted it, they were not virgins when he brought them into his home. the fact that he would even talk like this after what these women went through, it is the lack of -- >> which is why hopefully he will go away and we will forget him and remember the resilience of these incredible women. >> that is the face of evil there. don't go too far away. we're going to continue this analysis. and michelle knight, held and tormented the longest. 11 years, we'll hear from her in other own words. and you'll hear ariel castro's rant in that courtroom, at least a chunk of it here in "the situation room."
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two of ariel castro's captives stayed away from the courtroom today. but michelle knight was lured by the promise of a puppy for her little boy. >> i cried every night. i worried about what would happen to me and the other girls every day. days never got shorter.
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days turned into nights, nights turned into days. years turned into eternity. i knew nobody cared about me. he told me that my family didn't ca care, even on holidays. christmas was the most traumatic day because i never got to spend it with my son. nobody should ever have to go through what i went through, or anybody else, not even your worst enemy. ariel castro, i remember all the times you came home talking about what everybody else did wrong and act like you wasn't doing the same thing. you said "the least i didn't kill you." you took 11 years of my life away and now i have got it back. i spent 11 years in hell. now your hell is just beginning.
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i will overcome all this that happened, but you will face hell for eternity. as you think about the 11 years and atrocities you inflicted on us, what does god think of you hypocritically going to church every sunday coming home to torturous. the death penalty will be so much easier. you don't deserve that. you deserve to spend life in prison. i can forgive you but i'll never forget. >> strong word from a courageous young woman, michelle knight. back with us is gail saltz, the psychiatrist. it was smart to allow her to go
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into that courtroom and make that statement today? >> i think what's smart is to let each person decide what's right for themselves. for some people it really cathartic. for other people it's not so. it's best not to force someone do that but to let them make their own choice. you can see the women made different choices for themselves. for her it has been important. her words really ring of a lot of things that speak for resilience like "i may forgive you but i will not forget." "i will move on and overcome, you are going to be here." she pointed out the particular abuses that disturbed her most in some ways, which is frankly the loss of the childhood of her child that she was not able to be there for. and i think that she really summed it up in a way that clearly was particularly meaningful to her and in that
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hopefully it would be cathartic and that she can close the door and move on. >> amanda berry was not in the courtroom but her sister did make a statement on her behalf. amanda berry is one of the three women who did have a child, a little girl, with ariel castro. listen to what amanda berry's sister, beth, said in the court. >> amanda's concern is that her daughter will hear about things or read about things said by the wrong people the wrong way at the wrong time before amanda thinks the time is right to tell her daughter. my sister has been saying the same thing since this case started. please respect her privacy. she does not want other people to talk or write about what happened. >> how do you raise, gail, a little girl like this? she's 6 years old now, knowing what you know about how she came into this world and that her dad
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is this monster? >> in that way she has the most difficult challenge of the three because she loves her child but obviously her child is a product of this horrendous abuse. and while it is a challenge, there are sadly a number of women who raise children who are a result of rape, and it is possible, though difficult, to separate out that this is your child and to sort of, you know, disconnect in a way from the identity of the parent and if she is able to be very nurturing, a very positive parent, as her child grows, she'll see that her child has nothing in common really with these awful aspects of the other parent and that will make it easier as time goes on. what becomes most difficult is when you reach an age when you really want to understand who your other parent was.
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and that's a very difficult period. she may need to sort of dip back into therapy and get some help with -- or that child may need some help in understanding that even though biologically they're related, you know, they can fall very far from that tree, on a completely different universe from that tree, but that can be scary. >> i was happy the judge, michael russo, said that castro could have no contact with the three women and no contact with this little girl either, even though castro professed his love for his daughter. when we come back, ariel castro in his own words. he's upset, get this, because people are calling him a monster. >> and the nsa leaker edward snowden in moscow goes free. [ male announcer ] these days, a small business can save by sharing.
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you also take kaopectate. new kaopectate caplets -- soothing relief for all those symptoms. kaopectate. one and done. happening now, ariel castro tells a judge he never tortured the three women he held captive for a decade. >> edward snowden finally leaves the moscow airport. what's next for him? how should the u.s. deal with russia now? >> and foot and behind the scenes for the disgraced president nixon you've never seen before. >> before he was sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years, ariel castro made a rambling statement, denying many of the crimes he pleaded guilty to and
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complained about being painted as monster. he began by talking about the little girl he fathered with one of his captives, amanda berry. >> i'm not a violent person. i simply kept them there without them being able to leave. most of the sex that went on in the house, practically all of it was con sensual. this talk of it being forced on them it was totally wrong. there was time, many times they would ask me for sex. finally, i'd like to apologize to the victims to amanda berry, gina de jesus and michelle
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knight. i am truly sorry for what happened. >> let's discuss what we just heard with cnn legal analyst jeffrey toobin and danny savalas. when you hear what he said, did any of what he said make any difference at all as far as the judge was concerned and the law was concerned? >> no, this was determined well in advanceit reminded me a lot of jerry sandusky, the combination of narcissism and self-pity, sort of an apology and sort of not. i'm not a psychiatrist. i don't know what what was going on in his head. but a lot of the patterns of thought and behavior are similar between the two of them. >> he apparently wants to challenge the judge's decision that he should have no
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visitation rights with his 6-year-old daughter. he says he loves his daughter, he wants visitation rights with his daughter. what do you make of that? >> i see this a lot. this is negotiating after the play is already set. he did this a few times today, first with the daughter when he said i'm not agreeing with the facts, i'm only entering into the plea agreement to save people a trial. this agreement was entered into some time ago. what people don't know is his defense attorneys absolutely must have talked to him beforehand and said whatever you do, don't blame this on the victims, whatever you do for god sake don't say we had a harmonious family. you have to realize he's probably saying these things and his defense counsel is slapping their heads at the table saying we talked to him about this. he was prepped for this. you have to imagine he must have gone against what his own attorneys probably told him. he had time to prepare for this. he probably went off the script.
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>> you can see in the video the attorneys sort of trying to jump in, trying to get him to stop but, you know, he crazy. so he didn't stop. >> these are court-appointed attorneys, right, the public defenders if you will? he didn't have any money to pay these lawyers, jeffrey, right? >> yet another reason why the taxpayers get a good deal out of a plea bargain rather than a death penalty case because everybody would have been paid by the government, the defense, the prosecution, the experts, the jurors. it would have gone on for years. so yet another reason why this will be a cheaper resolution than a death penalty case. >> he's going to spend the next few decades -- he's in his mid 50s right now -- at lorraine, ohio, in a prison there. we assume he's not going to be in general population. that will be pretty dangerous for him. will he be in isolation all
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these years down the road? what happens to a monster like this in jail? >> there are a couple different reasons why ohio may segregate him or put him in ad seg or whatever their equivalent is. one is he's a known child sex offe offender. i would expect he would be segregated. and when you are segregated like that, you're usually confined to a small cell 23 out of 24 hours a day, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, with limited exercise. to many that is a really cruel fate and a really tough life to live. virtually no human contact. he won't got it. >> thanks for sticking around. we have more to discuss. other situations we're discussing here, edward snowden.
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let's take a >> a senior official telling cnn it's because of an increase in what they describe as chatter about a potential terrorist threat. this official noted it coincides with the one-year anniversary of the september 11th attack in
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benghazi, libya. more information coming in on that. we'll update you. >> a kansas company now recalling about 50,000 pounds of ground beef over fears of e. coli contamination. the usda says the meat was shipped to food distributors nationwide but unclear if it was sold at a retail level. there have been no reported cases of illness so far, but it is the second mass recall of beef from this company this summer alone. >> italy's high court has upheld silvio berlusconi's conviction for tax fraud. he will serve only one year. he served on and off as prime minister between 1994 and 2011. he's been entangled in fraud, corruption and sex scandals for
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years. >> and alex rodriguez is accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs from a clinic in florida. it's reported that the slugger will take a deal that will result in suspension rather than a lifetime ban. >> coming up, edward snowden is granted asylum in russia. how badly will this strain u.s.-russian relations? and president nixon like you've never seen him before. [ engine revving ] ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a golden opportunity to discover the heart-pounding exhilaration
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nsa leaker edward snowden is now out of the moscow airport and has been given temporary asylum inside russia. the white house says it's, quote, very disappointed by russia's decision. joining us now is former moscow bureau chief jill dougherty, fareed zakaria and michael just wrote about snowden calling this putin's latest insult to obama. let's start with you, fareed. senator graham, and he's going to be joining us in the next hour, lindsey graham, says the u.s. now have a firm response to what the russians did. what do you think? >> i would tend to agree.
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putin did not need to do this. he seemed quite sensitive to the diplomatic importance of maintaining good relations with the united states. he seems to have decided at the end of the day, as far as can i tell, he's playing to a cheap nationalist pop later in russia. the russians do view snowden as a hero for taking on the big, bad united states. there is a scheduled summit at the end of the g-20 meeting. i think mr. obama should decide he has more pressing engagements at home and for unavoidable reasons not do it. in typical diplomatic fashion he should say it has nothing to do with snowden. >> he was supposed to go to moscow before the day before the start of the g-20 summit for a one-on-one with putin and then go to the g-20. now there's a lot of suggestion he's not going to go to moscow
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but he will go to the g-20 summit. should he go to the g-20 summit or should he send the vice president or the secretary of state? >> no, the g-20 is very important. it's something that president bush and now president obama have been trying to put at the center of international relations right now because the understanding is the old system of just having the western countries meet wasn't enough, and you had to bring in india and china. so the g-20 represents really the 20 most important countries in the world sorting out issues of trade and whether or not you can advance free trade issues like that. it's important that they all get together. but the one-on-one with putin in moscow beforehand, that i think the president should find he just can't make it. so sorry. >> you spent many years, jill, studying russia. how important is this snowden issue inside russia right now? >> right now it's very big. it's something that the president of russia can actually get some
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don't forget that at the same time that he has kind of a hands-off, if you read the russian media, look at the blogs, what they're saying is, well, russia is protecting the rights of snowden in opposition, of course to the united states, which is trying to get him back, and they would argue perhaps torture or whatever. so, i think that putin on the one hand is kind of adamant, but he is also milking it as far as he can. ultimately, though, i do think he wants to push it down the road and not make a decision, at least for the foreseeable future. i was looking at one comment by a russian politician who said they could put this off for quite a while, and that would be a fine solution, because eventually, of course, as we all know, fareed's talking about it, they could have the g-20, russia gets what it wants, and eventually, they solve this. >> you know, michael, senator
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lindsey graham says this is a game-changer as far as u.s./russia relations are concerned. it's a major -- it's a big deal, obviously. >> it's a big deal, although it is one of several points of contention we have with russia. what i wrote about on time.com was a flashback to around this time last year, and mitt romney called russia our number one geopolitical foe. and you may remember, wolf, you i recall moderated the debate. >> it was an interview with me. >> congratulations. mr. obama said the 1980s called and they want their cold war back. ridiculing romney to say you're out of touch. in the last few months, it's been one front after another, whether it's putin supporting bashar al assad in syria, or that weird show trial where they threw the cia agent out of the country and put him on camera and made a fool out of him. you know, recently, a former senior bush administration official told me that the bush people watched putin go from a confident man to an arrogant man. now there's a worry that he's meg la maniacal, that he's not entirely rational anymore and
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unfortunately, seems like he's enjoying taking it out on the u.s. >> michael thank you for joining us. much more coming up next hour. coming up next, the 40-year-old footage of richard nixon hidden away in the fbi's vault, unveiled for the first time in a new film. we'll get a preview. and at the top of the hour, the bizarre, disturbing testimony of the cleveland kidnapper and rapist ariel castro. we have more details about his court appearance, an appearance that everyone is talking about. this week on "the next list," neuro scientist david eagleman takes us inside the mind of a mass murderer. >> when you see somebody commit a very strange, abnormal act, like a school shooting or a massacre like the one in aurora, colorado, we can safely assume that there is something abnormal about that person's brain even before we know exactly what that is. >> a how modern neuroscience is
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challenging our basic understanding of crime, punishment and personal responsibility. don't miss david eagleman this saturday, 2:30 eastern on "the next list." [ male announcer ] come to the golden opportunity sales event to experience the precision handling of the lexus performance vehicles, including the gs and all-new is. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection. ♪ and you wouldn't have it any other way.e.
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it's not just about watergate. a new cnn film entitled "our nixon" shows a much different side of our nation's 37th president. the filmmaker has combed through more than 500 reels of behind-the-scenes footage shot by nixon's closest aides and recently released from the fbi vaults. the film airs later tonight on cnn, 9:00 p.m. eastern. here's a little preview. >> our thing was a machine, and i knew my place. it really reflected a lot about richard nixon, the degree to which he wanted things controlled. >> it literally was from 6:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night every day of the week, and saturdays and sundays, too. and that pace was unremitting, totally consuming for somebody
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like me. >> joining us now, one of the producers of this new film, brian frey, also cnn senior political analyst david gergen, who worked for four presidents, including richard nixon. brian, these home videos, if you will, were they intended to be made public? >> well, they're super 8 home movies, and i believe that they intended at some point to make them public. in fact, holdaman at one point wanted to make his own six-hour tv miniseries, but it never came to fruition. >> and it took -- why did it take 40 years to get these films released? >> well, really, they were just sitting there. no one was paying attention to them. the main thing people were interested in was the secret white house tapes, because of course, those related to the abuse of power issues that were so critical to the end of the nixon administration and the watergate scandal. and these films really didn't bear on that, so people kind of ignored them. and it just happened that no one was really paying attention
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until penny lane, the director and i, went ahead and paid for the national archive to make video copies for the first time. >> and i'm glad you did. you know, david, you worked for richard nixon. that was your first white house job, but you once described when you first encountered him, a darker side. what happened? >> well, wolf, i came in as a junior lieutenant. i was a kid, and at the beginning, i was on the outside circles of what happened there. and at that point, when i saw the bright side of richard nixon, the strategist, the intellectual, the guy with henry kissinger plotted out the future, but as i got closer to him, he dropped his guard and invited me sort of close in. and when i saw there, i really saw the dark side. and there was a dark side. there was a dark, brutting insecurity about him. he had demons inside him that he really had not learned to control. and i think what you see in this film, and it's a fascinating film for me. the "washington post" today
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called it mesmerizing. think about that, the "washington post," the old enemy of nixon, if you would. but what you see in this film are three guys who took celebratory films, thought this would be a great presidency. all three drawn into a web of deceit, all three went to jail. and it's both the triumph and the tragedy and the fall of richard nixon that are represented in this film. >> cnn film airs tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn, entitled "our nixon." i highly, highly recommend it. brian frye, david gergen, guys, thanks very much. >> thank you. happening now, the house of horrors. the kidnapper stunningly defends his actions, insisting he's not a monster. this hour, ariel castro's twisted words and life sentence. plus, the victim who suffered the longest bravely tells castro she spent 11 years in hell, and she says now it's his turn. a psychologist and our legal experts, they are with us on this astounding day in court. and the nsa leaker is
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granted temporary asylum in russia, forcing president obama to make some very, very tough choices. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." he was about to be sentenced to life in prison plus 1,000 years, but ariel castro tried to convince the judge that there was "harmony" in the house where he held three women as sex slaves. during today's hearing in ohio, we got a very disturbing window into castro's depraved mind and the abuse his victims endured for more than a decade. we have extensive coverage coming up this hour. let's go to brian todd here in "the situation room" first with more on what has unfolded, and it is a house of horrors. >> it really is, wolf. castro was as disturbing to watch today as anyone we have seen in a high-profile crime case. even as he was about to be slapped with a sentence of life plus 1,000 years, castro tried
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to debate the judge, and he attempted to turn perceptions around and portray himself as a victim. despite the 937 counts against him, ariel castro was defiant, almost rebellious in court, claiming he never beat or tortured the three women he held captive for a decade. >> i am not a monster. i'm just sick. i had an addiction, just like an alcoholic has an addiction. >> reporter: an addiction to sex, castro said, the result, he claimed, of having been a victim himself of sex acts as a child. in one of the more breathtaking moments at his sentence 'the man who pleaded guilty to multiple counts of rape said this about his victims. >> most of the sex that went on in the house, practically all of it, was consensual. these allegations about being forceful on them, that is totally wrong, because there was times that they would even ask me for sex, many times. >> reporter: a staggering claim balanced against photos the
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prosecution revealed in court -- chains, ties, even a motorcycle helmet that police say was placed on at least one victim when she was sexually assaulted. a door rigged with an alarm clock to signal castro if someone was trying to get out, showing a model of his home, officials said he reconfigured the house to keep the women hidden. even with the presentation of this huge trove of evidence, ariel castro was still bold enough to interrupt the judge several times. this exchange was over the aggravated murder charge. [ inaudible ] >> -- fetus. that never happened. >> mr. castro, you talked with your attorneys and made a decision to plead guilty to count 1 as indicted, correct? >> yes, i did, and i did not kill anyone. i am not a murderer. >> reporter: the only victim to appear, michelle knight, who said she spent "11 years in hell." >> days never got shorter. days turned into nights, nights turned into days, years turned
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into eternity. >> reporter: knight has told police she was pregnant at least five times but was starved and punched until she eventually miscarried. dna tests have confirmed castro was the father of amanda berry's young daughter. when we were in cleveland at the time of the women's rescue, a source familiar with the investigation told cnn that when berry went into labor, castro ordered michelle knight to deliver the child. the baby was delivered in a plastic tub or pool to contain the mess. and the source says once the child was born there were moments of horror and panic. the child stopped breathe aepg, according to the source. everyone screamed, and ariel castro allegedly threatened to kill michelle knight if the baby didn't survive. according to a police report, michelle knight said she breathed into the child's mouth to keep her alive. the evidence that the women were bound, that chains and ropes were in the home is consistent with the accounts of fernando colon. he was engaged to grimilda figueroa, ariel castro's
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ex-wife, until her death last year. colon told me castro would beat figueroa mercilessly, sometimes with bar bells, and -- >> she told me she was locked in that house, he had tinted the windows, she had padlocked the doors. the only times that she was able to come out was for her appointments. that was it. >> reporter: in court today, ariel castro denied beating his ex-wife, saying she would escalate arguments and get physical with him, that he only reacted by putting hands on her. we do have to say, fernando colon could have motivation for accusing ariel castro. colon was convicted of molesting two of castro's children several years ago. he has long said that he is innocent. he claims that ariel castro orchestrated the charges against him to deflect attention from castro's own crimes. colon is now planning to appeal his conviction. wolf. >> and the judge, michael russo, he did make reference to the very chilling way that castro enticed these three women before he kidnapped them. >> he did. judge michael russo mentioned
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that all three of the victims had previously been friends with at least two of castro's daughters or his son. now, we had been told by a private investigator in cleveland, when we were there, that one of castro's daughters would go shopping with one of the victims, gina dejesus, go to festivals with her, and that, apparently, appears now to be castro's entry into this. this is how he maneuvered his way to get close to those victims. >> a real monster, indeed. all right, brian, thanks very much. let's discuss what's going on with our senior legal analyst jeffrey toobin. jeff, let me play another clip. this is ariel castro pushing back against the judge. [ inaudible ] >> makes it sound like i'm trying to force myself on to them. >> by virtue of your plea, that's what you did. you pled guilty to that, and by virtue of your plea, when you rape someone, that's what it
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means. >> what was behind that? i mean it was pretty strange to see right in the middle of the sentencing, he gets into an argument with the judge, after he pleaded guilty to more than 900 charges. >> wolf, i appreciate the question, but who the heck knows? this guy is crazy, he's evil. the fact that he was as rational as he appeared, which wasn't all that rational, was somewhat surprising to me. i cannot begin to fathom what was going on in his head in trying to fight with the judge today. >> if someone pleads guilty, can they still appeal down the road? >> there are an extremely narrow category of cases where guilty pleas can lead to an appeal, but one reason why the prosecution went to such elaborate lengths today to prove what went on is to make an appeal completely out of the question here. there is no doubt that castro knew what he was pleading guilty to, understood the implications
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of his sentence, so i don't have any doubt that castro, perhaps down the line, can file an appeal, but any appeal would have zero chance of success. >> what about -- >> he's done. this case is over. >> what about appealing the judge's decision that he should be barred not only from having any contact with these three women that he kidnapped and raped and held captive for more than a decade but also with the 6-year-old daughter that he has with one of these women? >> yeah, lots of luck with that appeal. i mean, i just think, you know, this guy -- you know, even in the criminal justice system, where we see lots of people who do very bad things, the magnitude of the evil here is so great. but if down the line, when this child grows up and she wants to seek out her biological father, then, perhaps, they will see each other. but the odds of a court giving him any sort of visitation or right to see her or right to hear anything about her is also
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zero. >> how bizarre was this whole sentencing hearing today in the scheme of things? and you've heard and watched a lot of these kinds of hearings. >> well, what was really unusual was how much evidence the prosecution put on, even before one of the victims testified. there were fbi agents, there were psychiatrists. i mean, this was almost like a mini trial. and i think it served several purposes. in part, it was to make the proceedings completely appeal-proof, but also, i think, to show the community just how horrendous this situation was. and in case anyone had any doubt that life plus 1,000 years was an inappropriate sentence, anyone who followed today would think that he was lucky to get away with this sentence. >> the court-appointed lawyers that were surrounding him, could they have done more to reign him in from saying some of these obnoxious statements that he made? >> not that i could tell.
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you know, defense lawyers are assistants to the client. and you could see at several points during this ridiculous monologue that castro was giving, you could see his lawyers sort of trying -- leaning forward and trying to say, okay, wrap it up, try to wrap it up. but you know what, he's the client. he was crazy enough and evil enough to commit these crimes, so it's not really surprising that he was crazy enough to go on this sort of monologue today. >> jeffrey toobin, thanks very much. up next, ariel castro's life was spared. was a plea bargain the right way to go? we're going to talk about that. then later, we're going live to russia where the nsa leaker is hiding out in a new location after getting the asylum he's been pleading for. ♪
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and with these plans, there could be low or no copays. you do your push-ups today? prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] don't wait. call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan to go the distance with you. go long. a life sentence with no possibility for parole for ariel castro, the man who held three women captive in his cleveland home for more than a decade. the plea bargain allowed him to avoid a possible death sentence. let's discuss what's going on with the criminal defense attorney, danny cevalos. if they had gone with the death penalty, rejected any plea bargain agreement, would they have been successful? >> well, that is an interesting question, because they would have only proceeded on the aggravated murder charge, and the proof of causation might have been difficult. now, as horrific as everybody finds this case, they would have
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had to prove that ariel castro intentionally caused a death and that there was a baby to begin with. there's not even what we call a corpus. so, proceeding on the death penalty side of the case, although they certainly could have proved it, it would have been the hardest part of their case. this may represent a good tactical move because they are saving the taxpayers a lot of money in prosecuting and in the appeals of a death sentence, and they're also achieving the effect that i think society would want to see. for all purposes, ariel castro is no longer among the living. he is now gone. he will be segregated from society forever. >> but when you say that, 23 hours a day he might be by himself in a small cell, but one hour a day, he'll be allowed to go outside, see the sunshine, have a little exercise, get three square meals a day, presumably, he'll be able to watch some television, stuff like that, read books. he will have an awful life, but he will have a life in that
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prison. >> i -- wolf, i don't know how you classify life. i would have to say, in ohio, i expect he'll be classified as a five, the highest level of offender, and he'll be put into segregation. probably, and i'm just guessing, at ohio state penitentiary in youngstown, where they house level five offenders. and you're absolutely right, there they're allowed some writing materials, they may be given a book or two, but in prison, a lot of the last few pages of the books are ripped right out, so those aren't even -- i mean, we're talking about maybe some books, maybe some paper, one hour a day. is it considered too luxurious for somebody like this? certainly reasonable minds can differ, but life, 23 out of 24 hours a day in administrative segregation is hardly a day in the park. >> will members of his family be allowed to go to that prison under normal circumstances -- i know you don't know all the details of what's in store there in lorain, ohio, but let's say one of his relatives wants to come visit him. will they be allowed to?
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>> whether he's in lorain or youngstown, wherever he is housed, there are visitation policies, which he could lose if he misbehaves, but there is visitation. it's very limited. he will be allowed. but the reality is, from what we're hearing, most of his family is not planning any trips to see him. >> if he were sent into the general prison population, his life would be endangered. i assume everyone agrees on that, right? >> yeah. ohio prisons have -- all prisons have an obligation when an inmate complains of fear of being injured, they have to segregate him. sometimes people call it the hole. but the reality is, it's segregation for his own safety, and that's exactly what ohio prisons and every other prison does. they have a special unit that includes, believe it or not, ex-cops, other people that are generally in danger of being attacked by the general prison population. it's highly unlikely that ariel castro will simply be released
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into the general population. likely from the outset, he will be in administration segregation or as it's commonly called, ad seg. >> take us into the minds of the defense attorneys he had. this guy was a butcher, this guy was a monster, yet these lawyers in cleveland, they're asked to go ahead and defend them. what's it like? >> yeah. i mean, i have to tell you, in the words of mark geragos, court-appointed attorneys and public defenders, they are doing the lord's work. they're not being paid megabucks, believe me, and they are doing -- they really are doing their calling. and they are, in a case like this, where this man had no chance of any kind of successful trial, they are negotiating the best possible arrangement they can. and i have to imagine, i can only imagine their frustration. after all their hard work, ariel castro gets up after they, without a doubt, sat him down,
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took him to the horse shed and complained to him what to say and what not to say, he gets up, and the only opportunity he has to speak to the public, he makes some rambling statement accusing the women of consensual sex. i mean, you have to have sympathy for these attorneys. they are doing, as geragos says, the lord's work, for virtually no pay, and they are just probably frustrated at every turn by this defendant. >> danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney. danny, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. up next, is air reriel cast cunning, delusional? we'll speak about it with author dr. gail sal salts. [ male announcer ] it's a golden opportunity to discover a hybrid from the luxury car company that understands that one type of hybrid isn't right for everyone. come to the lexus golden opportunity sales event and choose from one of five lexus hybrids
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happening now. inside the cleveland kidnapper's sentencing. the glasses and the tension you could only see and feel inside that courtroom. plus, president obama's next move now that russia has granted asylum to the nsa leaker. we have new information about an option on the table. and senator lindsey graham tells me what he thinks the president should now do. he's furious at russia. he says edward snowden has "blood on his hands." i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." today the first woman kidnapped by ariel castro became the last of his three victims to see him before he was locked away for the rest of his life. when castro walked into the court for his sentencing hearing, it was the first time he saw michelle knight since she escaped nearly three months ago. knight then had to walk past castro and stand just feet away
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and address him in tears. >> the death penalty would be so much easier. you don't deserve that. you deserve to see the life in prison. i can forgive you, but i will never forget. >> judge michael russo praised knight for her restraint when later she had to listen to castro say this -- >> these accusations that i would come home and beat her, beat them, those are totally wrong, your honor. because like i said before, i am not a violent person. i know what i did was wrong, but i'm not a violent person. [ inaudible ] >> joining us now, psychiatrist who evaluated michelle knight and the other survivors of castro's abuse by watching video of their testimony. dr. frank ockberg is on the phone with us from michigan.
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doctor, you saw the videos of these three women. what did you learn from them? >> well, first, how resilient, spunky, positive they were capable of being, and we saw that in court today. i was able to shake michelle's hand. she's really quite a heroine. but also suffered badly. and my role for the prosecution was to help them and the court understand that as much as we admire the women, as much as they are optimistic, these wounds are deep and they're going to last a lifetime. >> will they be able to recover? because i think you said that, yes, he's getting a life sentence, but to a certain degree, these three women are also getting -- will have a life sentence based on the torture he committed against them. >> and let's examine just what
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trauma does. when you have been terrified to the extent that they were, it comes back at night, it comes back in the twilight periods when you're falling asleep and waking up, it comes back in the middle of the day. and women who have suffered this degree of assault, it's a high percentage that have post-traumatic stress and have that symptom. but on top of it, when you've been systematically treated like an animal, you've been degraded, you've been dehumanized, it does take a while to fully recover your sense of spirit and humanity. and then they lost ten years of their lives, ten years at a time when you're progressing from being a girl to being a woman and knowing who you can trust. we've all been listening to
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castro's astounding, outrageous claim that he had a loving household. that wasn't a loving household. and this is the time when you learn how to be intimate, the time in your life when you learn really how to behave appropriately with a real partner. so -- >> when you saw the video testimony of the three young women that the fbi provided to you, give us a little sentence of what it was like. what did you actually see there, especially from the two other women who we didn't see in court today? >> yes, and i want to be very cautious, wolf, about their privacy and their dignity, so i'm reluctant to tell you details of what i saw. i will say this, i was very impressed with the women who did the interviews.
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they were kind, they were patient. i got a portrait of people who were frank. i liked every one of the women and i think anyone would. beyond that, i feel reluctant to say things about them. i'm much more enthusiastic about continuing this national conversation about what this is. >> that's a fair point. >> and also about the fact that there are many women who don't live in these extraordinary circumstances, wolf, but they live behind closed doors in their own homes with predators in their homes. and we should be aware of that. the numbers are staggering. >> yep. >> of women and boys who grow up with incest and with abuse. >> dr. frank ochberg, thanks so much for joining us. we appreciate your comments.
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let's bring in dr. gail saltz right now, a well-known psychiatrist and author in her own right. and gail, i'm going to play another clip from ariel castro and then we'll discuss. >> i just hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me. because we had a lot of harmony going on in that home. and if you seen the youtube video of amanda, that right there itself proves that that girl did not go through no torture. >> we had a lot of harmony going on in that home, he says. is he just delusional, because it's shocking to hear these kinds of comments from him. >> it is shocking. and yet, i say, as a mental health professional, it's not so shocking, because sociopaths are very manipulative and very
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self-centered. and i doubt this is a delusion in the sense that he doesn't sound psychotic, he doesn't sound disorganized, you know? he doesn't sound -- he doesn't have the other symptoms that go along with being really delusional. he sounds very manipulative, like he wants to impose the truth that he wants on the women, the court, the world. you know, he is grandiose, he is narcissistic, and he simply wants to assert that that's what he wanted it to be. and you know, this really is fitting, all fitting with, you know, extreme sociopathy. >> and what michelle knight, what she said in court today, that this is a guy who would actually, during all those years, 10 years, 11 years, he would go to church on sunday and he would have this persona, he'd
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pretend to be this great guy, yet do what he did to these three women. how do you explain that? >> well, you know, one thing that could have been going on -- obviously, i haven't examined him, but there can be a real compartmentalization. we've seen figures who, frankly, seem to be very upstanding, you know, impressive figures who are doing something that is an urge to them that's really horrend s horrendous, and you know, essentially living this secret life. so, people are capable in their minds of compartmentalizing, using denial to say, no, really, i'm an okay person, really, look, i go to church, i bring my daughter to church, and denying in that moment that they are behaving like a monster at other times, and it's impressive that minds are capable of doing that. in this case, though, you know, i think it wasn't so fragmented that he, you know, because so much of the life was at home doing this, doing these atrocities, i think we're
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looking more at somebody who is missing, you know, a moral compass. >> gail, he blamed the abuse he said he suffered as a child. what do you make of that? >> i think that that abuse probably fueled the sociopathy that he has, but at the end of the day, is that an excuse? no. none of these things are an excuse for perpetrating this kind of thing on a human being. but it is true, and he's probably heard this himself, that people who have been abused often repeat abuse, terrible abuse, later. so, on the other hand, the way he used that sentence, it sounded like he was trying to say, this is my excuse. i'm a sick man. i can't help it. and all i could say is, if he can't help it, then he needs to be locked away forever and ever and unable to help someone. the truth is that sociopathy is
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not very responsive to treatment, and he is not a person that should, you know, would be safe to have in the world. >> dr. gail saltz, the psychiatrist. gail, thanks very much for coming in. >> my pleasure. coming up, the nsa leaker in an undisclosed location. so, what's next after russia's bombshell decision to grant him asylum? president obama's considering possible consequences for russia. we're going to talk about his next move and whether it will matter to moscow. you really couldn't have come at a better time. these chevys are moving fast. i'll take that malibu. yeah excuse me, the equinox in atlantis blue is mine! i was here first, it's mine. i called about that one, it's mine. mine! mine. it's mine. it's mine. mine. mine. mine. mine. it's mine! no it's not, it's mine! better get going, it's chevy model year-end event. [ male announcer ] the chevy model year-end event. the 13s are going fast, time to get yours. current chevy truck owners can trade up to this chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $9,000.
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the nsa leaker, edward snowden, is a free man somewhere in russia right now, presumably at a secure location, possibly still on his way to that location. we simply don't know. the russian government's decision to grant him temporary asylum for a year allowed him to finally leave the moscow airport today and escape prosecution in the united states, at least for now. cnn's phil black reports from moscow. >> reporter: what the united states took away russia has granted, an identity document giving edward snowden the legal right to enter and live in russia, one year's temporary asylum, expiring july 21st, 2014. his russian lawyer showed off a copy after the original was delivered to snowden in the transit zone. the lawyer said snowden left the airport in a taxi, but he wouldn't say where he was going
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because of security concerns. somehow, snowden managed to evade all the news cameras staking out the airport, or almost all of them. one russian news service claims to have captured the moment snowden left. if true, they only captured the back of his head. wikileaks confirmed the news over twitter, saying snowden had left the building and their representative, sarah harrison, was still with him, as she's been ever since they left hong kong. snowden then released this brief statement through wikileaks -- "over the past eight weeks we have seen the obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law, but in the end, the law is winning. i thank the russian federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations." little comment from the russian government. president vladimir putin's spokesman would only stress, snowden's asylum application was assessed independently by russia's federal migration service. despite the potential impact on u.s./russian relations, he says the kremlin wasn't involved in
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the decision. snowden's lawyer says snowden wants to settle in russia for the long term, that he's already studying the country's culture, history and language. he says snowden is willing to make a public statement in the coming days. this is edward snowden's first night away from the transit zone of moscow's airport in almost six weeks. where is he now? well, his lawyer has simply been describing him as somewhere safe and secret, but he also told me a short time ago that he is staying with american citizens who live in russia. these are not people who know snowden personally but who reached out to him, contacted him during his stay at the airport and offered to help. back to you, wolf. >> so, phil, there will be no restrictions in russia as far as snowden is concerned. if he wants to make phone calls, if he wants to go on the internet, do television interviews, newspaper interviews, he can do all of the above? >> reporter: he can move around, he can travel across the
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country, he can talk to whoever he likes. that is absolutely true. and his lawyer says he expects he will do interviews, he will make public appearances, he will put forward his story. but first of all, he wants a few days to acclimatize to his newfound freedom and simply get used to being free of that airport which he's come to know so well, wolf. >> phil black in moscow for us, thank you. there's certainly a lot of pressure on president obama right now to make russia's vladimir putin pay a price for granting snowden asylum. our national political correspondent jim acosta's taking a look at the president's options right now. jim, what are they? >> well, wolf, we can tell you, president obama did decline to answer questions from reporters about russia's move to grant temporary asylum to edward snowden. still, white house officials are signaling there may be consequences, but for the moment, lawmakers from both parties say that's not good enough. in what's increasingly becoming an international chess match, russian officials granted temporary asylum to nsa leaker edward snowden, who promptly fled moscow's airport, a bold
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gesture that all but tells the white house, your move. >> we are extremely disappointed that the russian government would take this step. >> reporter: acknowledging the obama administration received no advanced notice from the russians, white house press secretary jay carney said u.s. officials will continue to make the case for snowden's return. carney hinted, big changes could be coming. in little more than a month, president obama is scheduled to attend the g-20 summit in st. petersburg, russia, and just before that, a face-to-face meeting with russian president putin in moscow. >> will the president not go to moscow now in september as originally planned? >> i don't have a scheduling announcement for you today and we are evaluating the utility of a summit. >> reporter: but on capitol hill, the statements were already flying from both parties, urging the president to get tough. some calling for a change in venue for the g-20 summit. "is it a slap in the face of all americans," senators john mccain and lindsey graham said. "now is the time to fundamentally rethink our
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relationship with putin's russia." >> russia has stabbed us in the back, and each day that snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife. >> reporter: snowedden made his escape just as the surveillance programs he leaked were coming under intense scrutiny, from the heckling of keith alexander at a cyber security conference. >> i don't trust you! >> you lied to congress! >> reporter: to complaints from some of mr. obama's fellow democrats, who visited the president with other key lawmakers to air their concerns. >> this program is not effective, it has to end. >> reporter: white house officials brushed off the notion mr. obama should rethink his approach to russia, but after his message of flexibility to putin -- >> this is my last election. and after my election, i have more flexibility. >> we want to reset our relationship. >> reporter: and former secretary of state hillary clinton's reset button with russian diplomats, a chill has set in on a range of issues, including syria. >> it is a simple fact that the so-called reset in our relations
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with russia produced positive benefits for american national security and for the american people. >> jay carney was careful to say repeatedly during the briefing today that the ongoing discussions that they're having right now with the russians will continue. still, the white house may not have much leverage to move the g-20 summit that is coming up next month. that is in part because russia currently holds the presidency of the g-20. that is why the summit is there. wolf? >> jim acosta's over at the white house. thanks very much. let's bring in chief political analyst gloria borger. she's been doing some digging on the president's options. if the president were to cancel that one-on-one meeting in moscow the day before the g-20 summit with putin, that would be a big deal. >> i think it would be a significant public snub to vladimir putin. and i believe, wolf, from talking to my sources, that that is clearly on the table. as jim pointed out, look, canceling the g-20, moving the g-20, the president not
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attending the g-20 is really not much of an option. the option is, okay, you want to have this bilateral meeting with me? well, guess what, i may not go. now, there are a couple of things at work for the administration in this. first of all, in talking to some russia experts today, they told me this might actually solve a problem for them, because the meeting between putin and obama wasn't likely to go anywhere anyway, so why not cancel it? and they also point out that there is some precedent for this, which is that vladimir putin canceled an appearance at camp david just about a year ago. and so, this wouldn't be the first time that that had occurred in this kind of rocky relationship. >> i would be surprised if the president does go to moscow that day before. >> i would be surprised, too. it's clearly on the table for him to take that off his schedule. >> there's a lot of the important issues on the u.s./russian agenda, obviously, that they have to deal with. how successful, and i know you've been looking into this, has the administration been in convincing the american public that edward snowden is a
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traitor? >> not very successful, wolf. in fact, the public is still having a conversation with itself about it. they overwhelmingly believe -- and take a look at this poll -- they overwhelmingly believe that snowden is a whistleblower and not a traitor. the administration would have you believe, of course, that he's a traitor. but they're also conflicted about snowden. a majority supports the fact that he should be charged in some way for disclosing nsa surveillance program, but a majority of the american public also believes that there are not adequate limits on the nsa's surveillance program. so, they're having this discussion about liberty versus security, which is, of course, understandable. and what i think you see the administration going through, as the president talks to people on capitol hill, is talking about lifting the veil on this surveillance program, talking about declassifying some of the things that we do and explaining to the american public why we do
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these certain things in certain ways and maybe changing a little bit of the program to make it a little bit more transparent. >> gloria borger, good analysis. thanks very much. >> sure. >> republican senator lindsey graham is outraged over snowden's asylum in russia. he says it's a game-changer right now between the u.s. and russia. lindsey graham is here in "the situation room." that's next. [ male announcer ] come to the golden opportunity sales event and experience the connectivity of the available lexus enform, including the es and rx. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection. ...and a great deal. . thanks to dad. nope eeeeh... oh, guys let's leave the deals to hotels.com. ooh that one! nice. got it! oh my gosh this is so cool... awesome! perfect!
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as senator lindsey graham, republican of south carolina, is joining us now. senator graham, thanks very much for coming in. lots to discuss today. said this is a stein of vladimir putin's clear lack of respect for president obama. what should the president have done? >> well, i think the president called putin and said, i'm requesting you to return this man to our legal system, the attorney general wrote a letter. making consequences of this decision more real to putin might have helped. but, you know, at the end of the day, i'm disappointed but not surprised. i'm not surprised that putin did this, but it's something we need to take seriously. and i wish the president had made the consequences more clear to putin.
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>> the president is supposed to start of the g-20 summit in st. petersburg in september. what do you think? should the president still go, have his one-on-one meeting with putin in moscow? >> i would suggest not because there's no meeting in the world like meeting the president of the united states. we're an exceptional country, and when the president sits down with another world leader, you elevate that leader just by default, if for no other reason. i would hope the president would consider canceling this bilateral meeting with putin because i think it sends the wrong signal about how seriously we take the snowden episode. >> should the president still go to the g-20 summit in st. petersburg, russia? >> well senator schumer and i think the summit should be moved. when you're hosting the g-20 summit in russia, that's a signal that everything is fine. having the venue changed would
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be a good thing. >> if snowden is watching right now -- we're being seen live not only here in the united states but around the world, including in russia -- you look in the camera, talk to him. what would you asssay? >> you've gotten some people killed probably. no matter your motivation, the results of your conduct has put brave people at risk. you've compromise our nation at a time when radical islam is on the move. we need to find out what these people are up to. you did a lot of damage to your country and put a lot of people who serve the country in difficult circumstances under the cover of darkness at risk, and you've got their blood on your hands. >> well, what evidence is there that he's put american lives at risk? >> plenty. >> can you share some of that with us? >> no. >> you believe americans have been killed as a result of this or will be killed? >> i think people have been
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compromised in terms of how they represent our country, the way they operate overseas has been compromised, yes. i'm very worried about sources and methods of the intelligence community being compromised. i'm very worried about the diminished ability of this program to detect terrorist attacks before they come to our shores. yes, people have been put at risk by this young man. ask general alexander. you don't have to ask me. ask people who know. >> senator patrick leahy, the chairman of the judiciary committee, he said, if this program is not effective, if it has to end, but he noted that a classified list of u.s. phone records in his words does not reflect dozens or even several terrorist plots, the section 2015 were help to prevent let alone 54 as some have suggested. in other words, he's suggesting that maybe it's not that big of a deal. >> well, i think it's a very big deal i. think you'll agree with this. we know terrorists are out there
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trying to hurt our nation, inside and outside. we do know that anwar alauk we talked to major asauhassan thro the internet and the rest is history at ft. hood. we know some of the attacks overseas are a result of radical islam. i can promise you there are active efforts to harm our country as we speak and surveilling known terrorists and trying to talk out who they're talking to within the rule of law is a necessary thing when it comes to stopping terrorist atta attacks. boston is a good example. if we had taken the russian information more seriously, it would have been nice to have gone into the phone records of these guys and found out exactly who they were talking to and who they were -- what they were up to by getting a court order. so i quite frankly disagree with senator leahy. we need this program more than ever, quite frankly. >> senator graham, thanks very much for joining us. >> thank you.
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coming up at the top of the hour, gay athletes speak out about the upcoming winter games in russia, the olympic games in russia, where harsh new anti-gay laws are now in effect. straight ahead, baseball's cal ripkin announcing a reward to find his mother's kidnapper. where would you like to go tonight? ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a golden opportunity to see how lexus effortlessly connects you to where you're going. ♪ come to the golden opportunity sales event and experience the connectivity of lexus enform, available on all lexus models, including the es and rx. ♪ this is the pursuit of perfection.
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♪ hihing, helicopters buzzing, and truck engine humming.
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sfx: birds chirping sfx: birds chirping
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secretary of state john kerry tells a pakistani television station the u.s. is looking to end drone strikes in
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that country. he says it depends on a number of factors, but he says president p obama has what he calls a very real time line and adds, we hope it's going to be very, very soon. the strikes have strained relations between the u.s. and pakistan. a year after his mother was robbed and kidnapped, baseball legend cal ripkin jr. is offering up a hefty reward to find the man who did it. listen to this. >> after talking as a family with members and with members of law enforcement and friends, we decided that we would try to reignite interest in the case by putting up a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of the man who abducted mom a little over a year ago. >> 74-year-old violet ripkin was abducted from her maryland home last july. police say the man forced her into his car, used her credit cards at rest stops. she was found the next morning
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in her car with her hands bound but otherwise unharmed. you can always follow what's going on here in "the situation room" on twitter. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. ariel castro explains why he's not to blame for kidnapping and raping three women. one of the women responds. his let's go "outfront." good